Welcome to October’s edition of the Cordis Pulse – a monthly digest of key research and policy developments across the sectors in which Cordis Bright provides research and consultancy services, i.e. adult social care and health, children and young people's services, and criminal justice.

This month, we're pleased to share two new Cordis Bright reports for the Youth Endowment Fund, both focused on improving support and outcomes for children and families. The first reviews how the care system in England and Wales can better protect children in care from involvement in violence, looking at placement stability, multi-agency safeguarding and reducing unnecessary criminalisation.

The second reviews the landscape of parenting programmes and family therapy provision available to local authorities, examining how evidence-based approaches can be expanded and better matched to local need. Both studies have informed the YEF's new practice guidance for children's services leaders on preventing children's involvement in violence.

A common thread this month is the value of stable, trusted relationships. It runs through the Department for Education’s work on enduring relationships for care-experienced children and its review of the children’s homes workforce. It also runs through the Ministry of Justice’s review of prison violence. HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ Children in custody report shows why this matters: 64% of children in custody said they had been in care.

Elsewhere, we cover services under strain and options for reform, including NHS productivity, safety in adult social care, the annual State of Policing report and support for people leaving custody.